History of the Day: World War I Camoufleurs

Now you see me, now you don’t (unless you already know almost exactly what to look for). The above two pictures are of a “camoufleur” – a member of the Women’s Reserve Camouflage Corps, which was a division of the National League for Women’s Service during World War I. This corps was made up mostly of female artists – 40 women from New York and Philadelphia who learned the art of camouflage, then used their skills to create designs that would mimic the landscape and blend seamlessly with surrounding terrain.

These women would often take their creations out into city parks to test their effectiveness, hiding in plain sight to see if they would be detected. Some reports stated that some of these suits would keep the wearer perfectly hidden to a distance of 10 feet, and a handful of reports even mentioned tripping over or stepping on someone unseen. Designs tested to work were then sent on to the U.S. military and provided to soldiers in the field.

A batch of 42 photos was recently uncovered during work on the World War I film and photo digitization project at the National Archives. Some of the pictures seem a little goofy, but these women did play a critical role. Though the job was initially handled by men, female artists began taking over the role of developing effective camouflage as the men were sent to fight at the front. In learning about camouflage, these women weren’t just taught painting and sculpture techniques. They went through the same sort of logistics training any man would, including army formations and maneuvers. It was believed that camouflage could only offer the best protection if the people creating it understood the conditions it would be used in.

The camoufleurs weren’t simply tasked with hiding soldiers though – their job also included disguising rail lines, depots, aircraft hangars, supply bases, trenches, and even ships. Ships were a bit harder, because they stood out. Gray ships in particular were easy to spot, so rather than trying to make the ships blend in with their surroundings, they went a different route and developed what they called “dazzle camouflage,” making use of abstract multicolored patterns to confuse enemy targeting. And it seems to have been effective – out of 96 allied ships sunk by German U-boats after March 1918, only 18 of them were camouflaged.

The full set of 42 photos is still undergoing restoration and digitizing, but once the job is complete, they’ll be available for anyone to see.